Car roof



July 17, 1923. A 1,463,721

c. D. BoNsALL CAR ROOF Filed June 30, 1922 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 PatentedJuly 17, 1923.

CHARLES DAVID BONSALL, 0F PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO P. H.MURPHY COMPANY, OF NEW KENSINGTON, PENNSYLVANIA.

CAR ROOF.

Application filed .Tune 30, 1922.

To all whom it may concern.'

Be it known that I, CHARLES DAVID BoNsALL, a citizen of the UnitedStates, and a resident of the city of Pittsburgh, county of Allegheny,and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a certain new and usefulImprovement in Car Roofs, of which the fol-f lowing is a specification.

My invention relates to car roofs o-f the all-steel riveted-up typewherein the roofing sheets extend from side plate to side plate and arerigidly secured thereto and to each other to form a rigid loadsustaining structure.

Heretofore the side marginal portions of such roof sheets have beenformed into ribs designed to act after the manner of carlines toincrease the load carrying capacity of the roof and serve as framemembers to brace and stiifen the car body. In actual practice, it hasbeen found that such designs do not entirely eliminate the tendency ofthe sheets to buckle under stresses acting thereon when the car goes outof square. In actual practice, the effect of such buckling stressesbecome apparent in the region about midway between the ridge and eavesof the car.

The principal object of the present invention is to provide a cheap andlightweight roof of simple construction that will take care of thestresses that tend to buckle the sheets; and the invention consistsprincipally in forming the ribs of two or more types arrangedalternately and separately designed to better fit them for taking careof the contemplated stresses. The invention also consists in the partsand in the arrangements and combinations of parts hereinafter describedand claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, which form part of this specification andwherein like symbols refer to like parts wherever they occur, U

Fig, l is a plan view of a portion of a car roof embodying my invention;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged transverse section through one-half of the carroof between stiffening ribs on the line 2--2 in Fig. l;

Fig. 3 is a similar section through a stiffening rib of one type on theline 3 3 in Fig. l;

Serial No. 572,063.

Fig. e is a similar section through a stiffening rib of the other typeon the line 1l-4c in Fig. l;

Fig. 5 is a longitudinal section along the ridge line of the roof on theline 5 5 in Fig. 2;

Fig 6 is a similar section midway of the ridge and eaves on the line 6-6in Fig. 2;

l Fig. 7 is a similar section adjacent to the side. plate on the line7-7 in Fig. 2; and

Fig. 8 is a similar section through the goof at the side plate on theline 8--8 in The present roof comprises heavy gage roof sheets l0, whichextend from eaves to eaves of the car and have depending dripflanges llat their eaves ends. The roof sheets are supported on the outwardlyprojecting uppermost lianges of angle-bar side plates 12 and aresuitably secured thereto by rivets 13. The side marginal portions ofadjacent sheets are lapped and rigidly secured together by rivets 14.The side margin of each sheet is: pressed up on each side of the ridgeto form ribs or seam flanges l5 that cooperate with like marginallianges vor ribs of the next adjacent sheet to form hollow strengtheningribs A that extend inwardly from the side plates and terminate short ofthe ridge. The middle portion of each sheet is pressed up to form ahollow stiilening rib B which extends transversely of the car at theridge and terminates short of the eaves.

The ribs of the type A alternate with those of the type B; and the ribsof both types vary in depth and are preferably of uniform width from endto end. The type A ribs are deepest adjacent to the eaves and decreasein depth towards the ridge and eaves. The portion of each type A riblocated between its deepest point and the eaves is curved downwardlyfrom said point and merges into the plane of the sheet where the eavesends of the sheet is turned down to form the drip-flanges 1l; whereas,the portion located between the deepest point of said rib and the ridgegradually decreases in depth from said point towards the ridge andmerges into the plane of the sheet on opposite sides of the ridge. Theribs of the type B have a maximum depth at the ridge i and graduallydecreaseJ in depth to points adjacent to the eaves where they merge intothe plane of the roof.

The pressed up side marginal ribs or flanges l5, which cooperate to formthe type A ribs, are preferably of substantially inverted channel-shapedsection. The type B ribs are also preferably of inverted channelshapedsection and of a width corresponding to the Width ofthe type A ribs. Thereverse taper of the carline ribs of the two types permits the use of asheet blank having parallel sides, thereby eliminating the expense ofshearing the sheet blank to a special shape before pressing; and thelateral flanges 16 that appear in the eaves sections of the lappedmarginal ribs or ianges 15 of the roof sheets is the surplus of metalresulting from the down-turned eaves end portions of said iianges, whichmetal is turned outwardly to form said lateral flanges. The lateralflanges of each sheet are rigidly secured to the body portions of thenext adjacent sheets by the rivets 13 that secure said sheets to theside plates. n

Running boards 17 extend longitudinally of the car at the ridge and arebolted to lthe upper most horizontal flanges of running board saddles18. These saddles preferably rest on the overlapped side marginalportions of the roof sheets and have their lowermost lateral iiangesrigidly secured thereto by the rivets 14 that secure said overlappedportions together.

It is noted that by alternating the type A ribs with the type B ribs,both types of ribs are present midway of the ridge and eaves and arewell adapted to take care of the stresses that tend to buckle the sheetsin this region. It is noted also that the roof as a whole is of moreuniform strength for the reason that for all vertical longitudinalsections through the roof, the cross-sectional area of the metal in thesheets is the same. For this reason, the blank sheets from which theroof is made may be of rectangular shape and are adapted to bepressed-up without any shearing thereof.

Obviously my invention admits of considerable modification in thedesigns of the seams and ribs and in the alternations thereof and I donot wish to be limited to specific designs illustrated.

What I claim is:

1. A metal car roof comprising a series of transverse stiening ribsalternating with other stiii'ening ribs that are deepest adjacent toth@J eaves.

2. A metal car roof comprising a series of transverse stii'ening ribs,some of said ribs being deepest at the ridge and other of said ribsbeing deepest adjacent to the eaves.

3. A metal car roof comprising a series of transversestiiening ribs thatare deepest of said ribs terminating short of the eaves Y and other ofsaid ribs terminating short of the ridge.

7. A metal car roof comprising a series of transverse stiffening ribshaving amaxinium depth intermediate their ends and terminating short ofthe eaves alternating withv other transverse stiffening ribs having amaximum depth intermediate their ends and terminating short of theridge.

8. A metal car roof comprising a series of transverse stifi'ening ribs,some of said ribs being deepest at the ridge and merging into the planeof the roof adjacent to the eaves, and other of said ribs being deepestadjacent to the eaves and terminating short of the ridge.

9. A metal car roof comprising a series of transverse stili'ening ribsthat are deepest at the ridge and merge into the plane of the roofadjacent to the eaves alternating with other transverse stiifening ribsthat are deepest adjacent to the eaves and merge into the plane of theroof adjacent to the ridge.

10. A metal roof comprising a series of transverse ribs alternating withother transverse stii'ening ribs that extend inward from the eaves andterminate short of the ridge.

11. A metal car roof comprising a series of transversely alinedstiii'ening ribs alternating with other transverse stiening ribs thatextend inwardly from the eaves and terminate short of the ridge, and aredeepest adjacent to the eaves and gradually decrease in depth towardsthe ridge.

12. A car roof comprising a plurality of roof sheets extending fromeaves to eaves and having their side margins overlapped, said roofsheetshaving stifl'ening ribs formed in their overlapped portions thatterminate short of the ridge and having stiffening ribs formed thereinbetween their overlapped margins that terminate short of the eaves.

13. A car roof comprising a plurality of roof sheets extending fromeaves to eaves and having their side margins overlapped and rigidlysecured together, said roof sheets having stiffening ribs formed intheir overlapped portions that are deepest adjacent to the eaves andmerge into the plane of the roof at the eaves and short of the ridge.

14. A ear roof comprising a plurality of roof sheets extending fromeaves to eaves and having their side margins overlapped, said roofsheets having stiffening ribs formed therein that extend transversely ofthe car between their overlapped margins and terminate short of theeaves and having stiifening ribs formed in their overlapped portionsthat terminate short of the ridge.

l5. A car roof comprising a plurality of metal roof sheets extendingfrom eaves to eaves and having their side margins overlapped and rigidlysecured together, each of said roof sheets having a stiifening ribformed thereon which extends transve-rsely of the car and is deepest atthe ridge and merges into the plane of the sheet adjacent to the eaves,the overlapped margins of said sheets having stifl'ening ribs formedtherein that are deepest adjacent to the eaves and merge into the planeof the sheets at the eaves and short of the ridge.

16. A car roof sheet having stiffening ribs formed therein, some of saidribs terminating short of the middle'of the sheet and other of said ribsterminating short of the ends thereof.

17. A car roo-f sheet having a stiifening rib formed therein that isdeepest at the middle of the sheet and having a stiifening rib formedtherein that is deepest adjacent to the eaves ends of said sheet.

18. A ear roof sheet having a stiffening rib formed therein that isdeepest at the middle of the sheet and terminates short of the eavesends thereof and having a stiftening rib formed therein that is deepestadjacent tothe eaves ends of said sheet and terminates short of themiddle thereof.

19. A oar roof sheet having its side marginal portions and the portiontherebetween formed with parallel stifi'ening ribs, the side marginalribs extending inwardly from the eaves ends of the sheet and merginginto the plane of the sheet at its eaves ends and short of its middleand the intermediate rib extending on opposite sides of the ridgeportion of the sheet and terminating short of the eaves ends thereof.

20. A oar roof sheet having its side marginal portions and the portiontherebetween formed with parallel stiflening ribs, the side marginalribs being deepest adjacent to the eaves ends o-f the sheet andterminating short of the ridge and the intermediate rib being deepest atthe ridge portion of the sheet and terminating short of the eaves endsthereof.

Signed at New Kensington, Pa., this 26th day of June 1922.

CHARLES DAVID BON SALL.

